The Blackrose Mercenaries
by Eyes like Dawn
Summary: Either by fate or accident 6 Horde women our brought together in the Tanaris desert.They form a mercenary group known as the Blackrose. These are their adventures. Set before Cataclysm.
1. Chapter 1

_A-N: This story is inspired by all my W.O.W characters. All of them in this first chapter, except the paladin, are the real names of my toons. I had to change some races around though because most of them are trolls. Set pre Cataclysm but there are still goblins. _

**Blizzard owns Warcraft. I own nothing!**

~8~8~

(Xig'wa)

The barracks of the Crossroads were eerily silent, its dull red building, usually bristling with the raucous noise of activity or the booming voices of veterans training the young warriors, barely uttered a whisper. Many of the Crossroad soldiers stood out side in the setting sun heat. All were dressed in their finest battle regalia, orcs, Tauren, and trolls, polished and preened in their red and black armor, standing to attention in front of a female troll.

Xig'wa was tall, even for troll standards, her long, fiery, red hair, fashioned in twin braids; lay draped over her simple, yet sturdily crafted Kor'kron armor. Two slender ivory tusks jutted from her mouth, which was turned into a satisfied smile. She, after all, had trained these grunts before her. To anyone who happened across the scene it would have looked as if they were preparing for the arrival of the Warchief himself.

"Are you sure you won't stay, Xig'wa?" Drog, the most decorated warrior, and new leader of the Crossroads barracks, asked, his voice filled with disappointment.

"I am sure, my friend," The warrior replied quietly, shouldering her heavy pack and shield with ease. "I have been to the front as many times as half those lazy grunts behind you, and even longer staying here to train the idiots!" She joked, drawing a few chuckles from the ranks. "Don't worry; I'll still be doing my part in the name of the Horde, just not in the first line of fire."

The burly orc nodded sadly, then, unceremoniously, grabbed the troll in a gargantuan hug that lifted her off the ground. Xig'wa gave an undignified squeak as Drog's iron grip tightened around her ribs, the warriors legs flailed slightly, and she grit her teeth against the squeeze that had killed more than one foe.

"If you keep me in this death grip, I'll die before I even get started." Xig'wa muttered, vainly attempting to free herself.

Realizing his grip would likely crush the plat bound troll, Drog stepped back, coughing awkwardly before offering Xig'wa a sharp salute, "May your axe never rust, and your swing never grow weary!"

Raucous cheers met the old warriors blessing as the troll warrior saddled on her raptor, Sharpclaw. From behind she could hear them chanting an old war song that rose high above the scorching desert air and couldn't help but smile once more. As the road opened ahead of her, the warriors mind whirled at the multitude or choices now open. Now free from her soldiering duties to the Horde, the options seemed endless. Where would she go, what would she find there? Ahead, in the hazy heat lines rising from the barren dirt, Xig'wa could already make out the faintest peaks of the Thousand Needles, looking akin to small mound hills from this lengthy distance. Patting her raptor, she grinned, the wind picking up behind her flinging loose strands of sanguine hair in every direction.

"First stop, Tanaris." Xig'wa whispered to the equally as excited raptor, spurring the large greenish beast forward, as they headed off in a slow trot to the towering peaks ahead.

~8~8~

(Shandra)

The crowds at the Gurubashi arena in Stranglethorn Vale cheered wildly at what was most likely the best spectacle any there had ever witnessed. Intense humidity did nothing to keep from people working themselves into a near heat stroke frenzy as they pounded the ancient troll ruins with their fist, either in excitement, to urge the contestants on, or in fury of loosing their bets.

A human and a Blood elf fought with unparallel savagery in the deep sandy pit that was the Gurubashi arena. The human wore all black, covering his entire slender form; his only armaments were two bloody fist weapons that looped around his hands, with long, sharp spikes protruding from their deadly clutches. The fist weapons dripped green venom that landed on the sand with a faint hiss, and caused a little line of foul smelling smoke to drift upwards. It was very potent stuff indeed.

Shandra, being an arena fighter of no few years herself, knew the rogue was good. Breathing heavily the paladin attempted to regain her battered composure against the human rogue. Half her plate armor lay in shambles around the ring by the human's expert dismantlement, and a cut on her arm foretold a long night of pain from his poisons even if she survived. A cleanse spell had managed to make the venom non life threatening, but it still flowed through her veins like liquid fire. Her broadsword stayed loose and agile in her hands, a Libram hanging on a bloodied chain by her side.

The human flashed a lewd gesture, as he saw the fatigue dancing in her eyes, movements flagged by exhaustion. She was finished. Rolling his shoulders, a gesture of complete confidence, the rogue began to sprint in. However, he diverted his course from a straight charge, and at the last second, reached into a secret pocket, and threw a smoke bomb blocking her view.

The crowd cheered, or cursed, even louder at the under handed move, all thinking the paladin dead meat as the human stalked in to the fog for the dirty kill. The sick sound of a steel moving through a body and an indescribable cry echoed over the ring, silencing those who had been making noise. Barely a sound was made, as the crowd watched with baited breath waiting for the smoke to clear.

Blue eyes up to the sky, dim and vacant, the human lay still, blood oozing out his severed head, which the elf girl, raised in victory. Birds flew from trees, disgruntled at the loud cheering that permeated the arena nearly shaking the whole place.

"Winner," A troll yelled, holding up the paladin's free hand in celebration. "Shandra!"

For only a moment, the paladin basked in the gory glory of the cheers; the screaming spectators, the thrill of watching an opponent fall to the earth, their blood running freely to be seeped into the yellow gray sand; this was what it was all about.

Later, at the small law less goblin town of Booty bay, Shandra packed, in a small stay room above the Salty Sailors Tavern. There wasn't much packing to be done, at any rate, some supplies to repair her abused armor, a couple of tunics and breeches, plus a small money sack near bursting with gold. It wasn't much but just enough for a gladiator who never stayed around to long.

A loud knock echoed from the near rotted door that looked like it had probably been on a ship before being so haphazardly hinged at the filthy tavern. Shandra sighed, slightly shaking her head, knowing exactly who it was. Opening the door angrily, she looked down to find the shifty, large smiling, goblin staring up at her.

"That was a great match, Shandra." The goblin praised slyly, talking faster than Shandra imagined any, save gnomes, would speak.

"Thanks, Jarl," She sighed in annoyance.

The goblin leaned against the door, toying with a gold coin carelessly between his large greedy fingers. "You know, we could use a gladiator like you here in the vale. You'd bring in the big coins," Jarl chuckled, rubbing his fingers together in greedy glee.

"Once, again, no thanks. I don't like staying in one arena for to long."

She shivered at a memory from long ago, staying long meant that at one point or another, no matter how much you tried to avoid it, your competition got personal, and she would never, ever make that mistake again.

"Ah well," Jarl sighed sadly, more that he would be loosing a fortune, rather than a great fighter. "Where will you be going next?"

"I hear their paying well, for some decent brawlers down near the shimmering flats."

Shandra rolled her eyes, as the goblins, loud laughter filled the room. "Tanaris, that water forsaken, bug infested, Fel hole! Those brawlers come from the dirtiest parts of Azeroth, best sort of fighting to. Light help you down there."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." She growled in exasperation.

Pushing the goblin out the door, she slammed it in his face, hopefully injuring him. Ignoring the music and bawdy drinking songs from down stairs, she sank on the hard cot, giving no thought to the fleas and lice, and waited for dawn to bring the boat.

~8~8~

(Efera)

Centaur milled about on patrol of their land in the Desolace. The forever gray sky swirled almost ominously above their territory. Its bleak days could get monotonous for the blood thirsty creatures who, all cowards stayed in the large groups of their tribes waiting to over come their enemies by sheer numbers in battle.

A scout gave a sharp whistle as a lone orc figure walked down a steep trail that was dangerously close to their territory. Efera had seen the Centaur long before they had seen her, though she still walked as if all was in order and she was simply a stupid fool having no clue where she was going. She smiled under her cloaks hood, as three of them stood in the middle of the road at a distance. A trio stinking Centaur clutched there preferred misused weapons, pawing their cloven feet, eager for the kill. She looked up sharply as if just noticing them, and cried out in alarm, setting off back down the road in a dead run of feigned terror.

The Centaur roared in devilish, bloody fun, the scent of blood in their nose and the prospect of fresh met in their mouths. They chased the orcess for some time down the path until it seemed the she had fallen, making the victory even sweeter to the Centaurs, knowing she wouldn't even put up a fight. The middle centaur bandit, spurred on an extra burst of speed, its hooves churning up grainy dust back in his compatriots faces thinking he would have the first of the good meat. A hiss and a cry of pain greeted the ambitious bandit as angry snakes bit at its ankles, and wrapped around his legs tripping the beast. The other two saw their partner fall, and jeered at their foolish friend, leaping over his quickly dying body.

A bear suddenly charged from the path side, it seemed nearly leaping through mid air, claws and teeth bared, to maul the bandit on the left. That only left one very startled Centaur gazing around at the changing events. Two of his tribesmen lay dead from either a string of terrible luck or a trap. Hearing the drawback of a bow, he looked up in alarm to find the orc standing up with an arrow flying into his direction. He gave a chocking cough, holding his neck, where the arrow had lodged it self. Another protruded from his chest, arm, leg, until he looked akin to a pincushion. With a gurgle, the hapless creature tumbled over, leaving the hunter, victor of the scuffle.

Walking up towards the dumbly staring corpse, Efera spat in disgust. "I hate Centaur." She muttered, running a hand through her jet black hair. At 5'9 tall and muscular, but with a definite feminine quality, the orcess cute quite a figure.

The corpses were already drawing more flies than usual, but the stink was just a wretched, as she searched the body of the arrow filled horse creature. By the way the clothes were oddly bright, and more or less in good shape told the hunter it was due to a recently fresh kill from some unlucky bastard. Paper fell out of one of the pockets, covered in sludge. What ever the beast man had been using it for couldn't have been pretty. What she could gather from the parchment was the poor sap who had gotten killed was heading to a place known as Tanaris.

"Tanaris, eh," She murmured curiously. Looking towards Bor, her bear. There was a faint smile on her face. "Looks like that's where we're headed."

The loud hoof pounds of more centaur and cries of rage echoed in her ears, drawing more credence to her new plan and she quickly disappeared into the bleak land.

~8~8~

(Pendel)

In a small home, near Ratchet, a single candle burned by a window, its tiny flame flickered cheerfully, telling that for all the looks of abandonment, the house still contained one resident. Pendel didn't even want that single tiny flame proclaiming her presence, but she needed some way to see in the dark house on the moonless night. The fine home lay upturned in panicked packing, by the goblin who was doing all she could to cover her trail. Her bright turquoise eyes danced with fear as she swiped thick bangs of jasper green hair from her face, grumbling to herself as she destroyed the home, picking up things here and there that she needed on the run.

"O, Pendel, it's just a little assassination attempt on a wealthy trader in Stormwind. Yea, that lazy employer failed to mention that 'little wealthy trader' was a noble!" She mumbled to herself.

Pendel had failed, and she knew she had an hour at best till some one came to claim her head as a bounty reward. But where could the rogue go? Booty Bay was out of the question, Winterspring as well. While she could find sanctuary with her people, she knew all to well they'd sell her out for the right amount of coin. She had to pick a place her people would hide her and maybe the bounty hunters tracking her would never think to look or wouldn't try to follow.

The rogue now carried the candle with her making sure she left nothing truly important behind, anything that could potentially give her away would be an instant death sentence. A large map of Kalimdor decorated her former living room, she shined the candle on it, her mind working over the possibility of her current problem of where to go. Slowly her sharp gaze drifted lower and lower down south.

"Hmm, Tanaris, small, hot, not a lot of water, constant danger, out in the middle of nowhere…Perfect!"

Pendel laughed slyly, letting the candle begin to burn the edges of the map. Hungrily, the flame licked the outskirts of the once expensively crafted map devouring all in its ever gluttonous heat. The house was fully ablaze when the goblin slunk out into the night.

~8~8~

(Juska)

In Mulgore, another person was departing from home, but not for the same reasons. The Tauren hefted her pack easily across her shoulders looking one last time in the direction of home. Her brown spotted fur hung shaggily on the young Tauren girl, slightly tousled by the wind as she sighed, half fearful half wistfully on what she was about to do.

The spirits called to Juska, and she knew staying at home would never really be the way of performing the ancestors will, no matter how much her father might hate her for leaving. With a quiet prayer, Juska spoke to the earth and it answered by a small rumbling under her hooves. She had always had a connection with the land, not like the druids, something more personal. The wind taught her swiftness, caressing her as a child, earth spoke wisdom, water had taught her patient, but fire, regrettably had taught her quite the opposite. Juska could no longer wait for her training to be over, the world called to her, speaking through her visions and dreams; and she would answer that night.

The earth under her rumbled again as the wind pressed against her back as if pushing her smoothly along. With a smile, the shaman walked off south having no clue were she was going but having faith the spirits would lead her safely.

~8~8~

(Magtera)

Snow fell in heavy blankets upon the Alteric Mountains, thick clouds spread like iron stones upon the sky. The ground was invisible through deep mounds of snow and ice that piled along the ruins of a once strong and thriving human city. Alterac keep had once been a neat little town set in the frigid mountains. They had mostly kept to themselves until plague had struck, either killing the citizens or driving them northward to Stormwind. The town was now residence to a clan of ogres, who ruled their territory with an iron fist against intruders.

In the former garrison of Alterac keep the brutes lay nice and warm huddled together in the ruins. The ogres lay gambling or sleeping, around the huge banked fire that flickered their shadows into odd creations along the stone walls. All was quiet, and just as it should be, before the main door slammed open bringing in drafts of cold air and flakes of snow. A heavily wrapped up Forsaken and a gray donkey strolled through the door. The robes of the undead whipped around as the hot and cold air colliding vying for dominance.

"Good evening, my ogre friends!" Magtera, spoke in their grunting guttural language with ease. "I hope you don't mind me bringing Phyllis in, it's to cold to leave the old girl outside." She patted the donkey beside her for good measure.

The ogres looked on in shocked silence as the bold, or crazy undead, lead her donkey and herself to a bare corner of the room.

"Winter can be a nasty time of year for people up here, but never fear, I bring the healing of the Light!"

It took all of five seconds for the ogres to come to their senses, and grabbing nearby weapons. The biggest of the brutes, probably the leader, hefting a large club, laden with sharp stones, stood over the seemingly oblivious forsaken.

"Ah, my first patient." Magtera smiled pleasantly. She looked up placing a bony hand on the brute's large chest. "Hmm, you have a few bruised ribs. Slipping a little too much on the ice?" Magtera chuckled to herself quietly while offering the Light a healing prayer as the ribs mended.

"There we go, big guy," She nodded in assurance into his shocked face.

She had healed the sharp jagged pain that ran across his torso with every laborious breath. For the fist time in months it no longer hurt the brute to move about. The other ogres looked at their leader with wonder as they witnessed his breathing more eased than they had ever seen it. If she had healed him, what could she do for them?

Days later the blizzard had cleared, Phyllis and Magtera were about to leave, while the host of the ogres coming out to bid them good-bye.

"Thank you, dead lady," The leader said quite politely for an ogre.

"No thanks are needed, my friend. All I ask is for you to tell me where there're any others I could be a service to?"

"We no some," The ogre nodded, pointing off into the gray distance. "Our fellow clan brothers in Tanaris."

"Tanaris?" The priest echoed confused. "Where's that?"

"Far across the sea in a place with as much sand as there is snow here."

"Then that's where I will go." She said nodding determinedly.

The ogres waved good-bye as there newly found ally walked off back to Hillsbrad to make arrangements to Kalimdor.

~8~8~

_So, should I continue this story?_


	2. Tanaris

Tanaris was not a place any sane person would choose to live. But far be it for anyone to call a goblin sane. The sun beat down unmercifully in the desert and it seemed to take special pleasure in beaming even brighter on the ramshackle goblin town of Gadgetstan. The little eccentric green people seemed to thrive almost anywhere, but out here, they were certainly pushing their luck. The small inn sheltered all travelers foolish enough to come down in the desert, all were welcomed to stay, for a fee, of course, provided they didn't make trouble with the other faction.

All that habited the inn, for now, was a Dranei who lay with head down in a drunken stupor on the rough hewn log that served as the dining table. In a corner pallet, Xig'wa lay curled up miserably. The troll tossed and turned from side to side stoically, as a warrior she was taught not to complain about living conditions, and as a troll who had grown up in hot climates, she should have been used to the heat. But the heat she had grown up with was humidity, this dry stretch of land was more like an fire beating down on you all the time. And at least back home, the temperature stayed mostly the same, not drop to below freezing after that fireball dropped from the sky! Breathing a sigh of frustration, she silently promised herself, after she had fully seen to be seen here, she was never coming back.

The inn door opened sending a rush of cold air into the already musty smelling inn. Xig'wa lay still, eyes partially opened watching the figure come through.

"Ah, potential customer," The inn keeper mumbled, rushing up to Efera.

"Welcome, my good friend, to my humble inn," he greeted, making an overly showy bow.

"Run-down is more like it," Efera scoffed, drawing a small smirk from Xig'wa.

"Ah well, yes, but it is all are hard working town can manage. I can offer you shelter and fantastic cuisine…"

"If the price is right," she finished for the short fellow.

The goblin nodded, rubbing his fingers together greedily. Efera rolled her eyes, throwing a few silver coins at the goblins feet. A large brown bear wandered around the door sniffing warily, making the goblin green skin pale. "Stables are 'round the back, don't even think about bringing that beast in here!"

The hunter whistled to the bear, smiling as she watched it trot off to the stables. "He'll make himself comfortable," Efera confirmed.

Taking a pallet by a corner, she began methodically clean her bow, restringing it and polishing the wood.

"What brings you down here, troll?" she asked, holding back a grin. Who did that troll think she was fooling, pretending to be asleep.

Xig'wa shifted in surprise under the blanket, closing her eyes for real this time. The warrior heard the chuckles of the orc, as she drifted off to uncomfortable sleep.

The morning seemed to come all to quickly, and with it the deadly heat of the desert. After a tasteless breakfast of dried hard tack and tepid water, Xig'wa walked outside working a crick out of her back from the night spent on the stone floor. Efera was already outside, feeding, and communicating with Bor. Xig'wa gave a slight nod of acknowledgement to the orc, turning her attention to the morning citizens.

All seemed to be focused on the cage in the middle of town, where a Blood elf and a human sparred. The elf was an impressive fighter, using her claymore with the ease of a short word, always light in her palms. Both the human and the elf were already sweating on the ever heating morning, but the elf defiantly had the human beat. Xig'wa rested her elbows on the cage wall, watching with impressed attention.

The human shot fireball after fireball, keeping the paladin at a distance. Shandra stayed on her toes, knowing that losing your footing, and a mage would have you beat in a spit second. A well aimed ice bolt shot directly into the paladins breastplate, slowing her to not much more than a crawl. Nearby gamblers groaned in dismay, quickly making plans to change their bets the next time the paladin was in the arena. But the elf kept charging toward the mage, a hammer of light glowing in her free hand. The hammer sailed toward the unexpected mage striking him square in the chest and sending the mage flying into the cage wall.

"Well struck!" Xig'wa yelled, forgetting momentarily this was just an exhibition match. As the mage groaned in delirium, his head spinning from the blow dealt him. The paladin sheathed her blade, her lips holding a smirk, and walked out of the small cage. She ignored the warrior who had cheered, as she stode to the inn where she would hopefully catch some sleep from the long ride, and fight.

Suddenly, the wind picked up, sending a gust of sand into everyone's faces. Xig'wa cursed lowly, spiting our the grit gotten into her mouth as she wiped her eyes of sand. The wind was getting stronger by the second. Worried looks, masked the towns men faces some running back into their small squat homes.

"Sand storms a-coming, friends!" The inn keeper yelled from the door. "Best get inside, you'd be fools to go out this day."

Xig'wa grit her teeth in frustration, slamming her fist into the cage wall, this was the second day here, and so far she had done nothing but sit in the inn, but, she realized furiously, she couldn't stop nature from deciding which days it decided on a sand storm. As the streets cleared, the inn guest scurried back into the long building, quickly flinging their packs down and finding a comfortable seat. Efera was last to walk into the inn, seemingly unworried about the storm, with Bor trotting behind her.

"Hey, hey, no animals allowed in the inn!" the inn keeper yelled, raising his hands in a shooing motion at the bear.

"By all means, you are welcomed to take him out yourself," the hunter stated icily. Bor growled dangerously making the inn keeper back up in fear.

"Just make sure he doesn't eat or crap on anything," he warned running off to some make believe task.

Another goblin, not one of the Gadgetstan folk, sat in the inn, Efera hadn't seen her come into town, which disturbed her a great deal. She shot a glance at the troll, who seemed to be thinking the same thing. She and the warrior had not spoken formally to each other but they seemed to share a bond about reading people. The goblin was keeping to herself, tucked away in a dimly lit corner of the single room inn, her hood covering any features that might have given off some recognition. Xig'wa instantly checked that her axe and shield were close at hand, in case the goblin offered trouble.

As the day when on however, no sort of mischief was forth coming from the new companion of the inn. Shandra slept like a rock on a bug infested pallet, Efera cleaned her bow, Xig'wa hovered over a mug of watered down ale, sipping at the bitter brew slowly. The Dranei that had been there earlier stalked in through the door, wiping sand off his clothes, and grumbling in common about not being able to catch the Gryphon out of the Fel hole known as Tanaris.

"Hello my strong, blue, friend," Pendel said cheerily in common, walking up to the large Dranei. "You look like a wondrously smart fellow; how about we play a little game."

The Dranei nodded, thoroughly impressed by the rogues flattery. Xig'wa smiled over her mug, looking at the goblin about to con the Dranei.

"Okay, here we go, a simple game. Three cups, all alike, find the gold coin, under the cup. First ones on me, next gold you put up. Deal?" The goblin asked good naturedly.

He nodded, eyes focused on the cups. How hard could it be? The first ten matches, he won, his gold pile growing larger. But that's all just part of the con, Efera knew, she had played this game against people, spirits knew how many times when she was low on coin. Very soon, he started loosing, and the coin pile started growing in the other direction. By the time the game had ended, the Dranei had sold his cloak to the inn keeper just for a place to stay the night, and Pendel, sitting greedily at the table, counting up her ill gotten gains.

It was dark when the storm had finally subsided, but far to late to do anything productive. Shandra had gotten up hours ago, pacing the small inn, she hated inactivity more than anything. Inactivity meant there was time for your mind to wander, and she fought that away with all of her mental strength.

The tenth hour brought a surprising crowd of people coming from around Azeroth. Five Alliance soldiers marched in, looking a little worse for wear. They were no doubt staying over night then headed for Darnassus on the morrow. The inn keeper rested by the door eating a far better dinner than was given to his patrons. Footsteps were heard near the door, bring a smile to the greedy goblins face. He swung open the door, his signature phrase on his lips.

"Welcome my good…Tauren!" he said surprised. It was rare that one of their people traveled this far down south, it was rumored sand did not agree with their hooves.

"Uh, h-hello," Juska said nervously, ducking her head inside the building.

The goblin tried to hide his crafty grin, realizing a greenling when he saw one. "Welcome, welcome. Please make your self comfortable. Let's see, that'll be 10 silver for the stay, and 5 silver for the meals."

The goblin watched in glee, eyes glinting as the Tauren counted her silver.

"Huh, funny," Xig'wa began still looking down at a mug she had held for hours. "My stay and meal was only 10 silver in all, glad I got here before the prices rose."

If looks could kill, the inn keeper would have slew the warrior where she sat, but the moment of anger vanished back into the sly façade he usually carried. "Quite right, my troll…friend. My mistake," he grumbled, handing the five silver back to the Tauren. Juska shuffled into the small dining area, pushing past the Alliance soldiers. She sat on the far end of the bench lifting all the soldiers up on the bench with her.

"Hey, hey," the inn keeper yelled in alarm, "You might want to sit in the middle lest you turn all my guest into a makeshift catapult!"

"Sorry," the young Tauren mumbled setting in the middle of the hard bench.

The soldiers grumbled, but they knew the price of starting a brawl would mean not having a safe place to sleep. A sense of normality resumed soon enough as the night drew on, but tension was heavy around the now even smaller inn.

"Well, folks," the inn keeper yawned, scratching his large nose lazily. "Play nice, this tired old dog is hitting the cot." the goblin picked up his new cloak, heading to an adjacent room to the inn, not even he stayed in the filthy, smelly place. He swung open the door, running directly into Magtera.

"O, pardon me, little guy," she said politely, helping the surprised goblin up. "Sorry it's so late, but I was running a little behind. I stopped over at the shimmering flats after a little racing accident."

"Uh, yea, sure," he grumbled awkwardly. It seemed not even goblins were immune to the ugly looks of the forsaken when you didn't expect one coming around. But coin was coin, far be it for one goblin to refuse service to the living dead!

With the inn keeper gone, Magtera looked around the dimly lit, small inn.

"_Hmm, lets see here," _she thought inwardly her gaze floating around the room. _"Five Alliance soldiers, one drunken Dranei. A blood elf, troll, orc with a ferocious looking bear, a goblin, and a Tauren." _All looked liked they wanted nothing to do with one another, seeing how everyone rested as far away as possible in the inn.

Magtera shrugged, it was late, probably not the best time to be making acquaintances. She shuffled across the room, taking a pallet far away from everyone else. After traveling through the dusty flats, she knew she didn't smell like a bunch of fresh cut roses. The rest of the patrons gave her a wide berth, the night ever growing more dangerous.


	3. Kicked Out

After the inn keeper had departed, one of the soldiers raced to his pack, producing a fine bottle of Thunder Brew Malt. He held it up to show his friends shaking the bottle temptingly in front of them. Most know that soldiers be they Horde or Alliance have a strong tendency for heavy quantities of drinking. With all the horrors they witnessed like watching friends fall dead beside them, losing homes and loved one, Xig'wa couldn't blame them. She had once tried to drown the bloody tragedies she had endured or led with alcohol telling herself she was drinking for fun or victory in hopes to mask the memories that plagued her. Yet these six soldiers did not drink to wallow memories, they drank for the sport and to be rowdy.

"Hey…cow!" One of the younger soldiers yelled out to Juska. It was obvious by his swerved walking and bloodshot eyes after only a few mugs, he had never truly had any hard liquor before, only adding more fuel to the ever darkening situation. "Hey, cow, I talking to…you!" he repeated, this time walking over to the shaman, drawing loud laughs from his fellows.

The young human let out a large belch before speaking. "Moo for us," he ordered at the rise of his drunken stupor both hand firmly on the table in front of the Tauren to steady himself.

Juska couldn't speak common, but she guessed by his drunken tone, and the way his friends roared in laughter, he wasn't saying anything complimentary. Shandra rolled about in annoyance on her pallet, ignoring the drunks, Xig'wa looked up very slightly, not wishing to draw attention to herself but observing the situation critically, Bor lifted his head up sniffing the air warily until Efera put a comforting hand on his head silently telling him it wasn't time yet, and Pendel watched with curiosity making private wagers on how long before a fight began.

"That's not very nice," Magtera scolded gently in common, jostling herself out of her meditation. The forsaken walked over to the Tauren standing behind her. She placed a bony hand on the Tauren's shaggy fur. "I am sure you and your friends have much more to talk about, than to pick on this Tauren. We can all stay here in peace if we try."

The soldier looked at Magtera for a moment blinking a few times, before growing angry. His lips upturned into a skewed sneer. "Shut up, rotting bag of bones!" He turned back to Juska, "I said moo, damn cow!" He yelled reaching out to strike the shaman.

Before anyone else could react, Xig'wa charged at the drunken human, rushing him from the side. The two went flying over the table in a mix of armor and fist as they both bashed away at one another with abandon.

The other six soldiers rose, overturning chairs and rushing to gather their weapons. They ran to the racks that held their gear, only to find all their weapons had vanished with Pendel shaking her head at them, "Ah, ah, friends, lets keep this from getting to bloody."

One of the soldiers, a night elf, grabbed a hidden dagger by his side and rushed at the goblin in a rage. An arrow, landed right at his feet tripping him up and making him land face first at the goblin's feet. Pendel looked to Efera who already had another arrow in her bow, nodding her head in thanks, "Much obliged, orc," she mumbled, preparing herself as the next soldier ran to engage her.

"What the Fel?" Shandra mumbled rubbing her eyes. The paladin shot up awake just as one of the soldiers charged at her, careless if she had been in the fight or not. She rolled out of the way, sweeping one leg around to take out the humans legs. In an instant she was atop him pounding away at his skull.

The last of the soldiers had Juska cornered. The young woman had never been in a real fight in her life it was exhilarating and frightening all at once. But this soldier was a hardened man of war, knowing Juska had likely no clue what she was doing. He had maneuvered the Tauren into a no way out situation, jabbing at her with a sharp knife that had been left on the table. He thrust out aiming for her heart, but a ball of lighting countered the move. Stepping back he cursed while fighting through the pain the jolt of electricity had given him, taking his time for his next attack.

"Excuse me," Magtera said pleasantly, tapping the soldier on his shoulder. He turned to her, as a high pitched scream echoed through the inn. He dropped the knife hypnotically, his eyes bulging as he looked far off at some horrendous beast that was coming to devour him. Crying and screaming he ran out of the inn, loosing himself in the desert, anything to get away from the monsters that hounded his every step.

"O dear," The forsaken bit what was left of her bottom lip looking worried as she walked over to the Tauren. "I certainly hope, he can find his way back here tomorrow, he'll have a Fel of a headache that's for sure."

The fight was in full swing as the inn keeper rushed in with 15 bruisers behind him. By the way it looked, the soldiers were getting their butts kicked giving the goblin a suspicion of who had began the brawl. "Who started it," he growled while wiping a dirty sleeve across his nose, annoyed for being woken at one in the morning.

"I can tell you, sir," the forsaken, who'd, been sitting beside the Tauren, announced cheerily. "You see that soldier over there?" She pointed to Xig'wa. "Yes the one the troll was mauling. He attempted to throw the first punch, but it was the troll, who actually hit first. Then the goblin, orc, the enraged blood elf over in the corner, myself, and then the Tauren."

All was silent as everyone stood aghast at the Forsaken, who had told the complete truth on the matter, something extremely rare in any goblin town.

"Out!" the goblin yelled after finding his voice, "All of you out!"

The Alliance soldiers cast hateful glances at the 6 women as they were the first to be kicked out of town. The women tried their best to explain why they had been fighting but the goblin would have none of it. In the end, they were escorted by twenty armed guards out of town and into the desert wastes.

The doors to the fort town closed to the women leaving them numb with anger and shock. Shandra grit her teeth in anger, kicking at the door, yelling curse up at the guards.

"Not to worry, gal pals," said the ever cheery priest. "I and old Phyllis here always come prepared for situations like this!"

"And I suppose, you want us to pay a fee to stay with you?" Efera snarled at the forsaken.

Magtera took a step back as if struck by the orc's words. "Perish the thought! I don't charge for kindness." The priestess smiled innocently at them. "Now come along, we'll be out of the elements in no time."

Slowly the other women looked to each other as if begging one of them to have a better idea than following the crazy priestess and her donkey. When no other option seemed available a near unison sigh rose from the small group as they began following the forsaken.

The chill desert wind whipped coarse stinging sand as the women trudged through the sandy wastes. Even for all its danger Tanaris was beautiful at night, peaceful and serene. Millions of stars were visible from above and the moon lit everything making one be able to see for miles around.

"Thanks, for coming to my rescue," Juska thanked the forsaken in whispered tones as they walked in the cool desert.

"All in a day work, sweetie," she chuckled patting the Tauren's huge arm gently.

"Uh, by the way," Juska added on looking around, at the endless expanse on the desert. "Do you know where we're going?"

Magtera smiled pleasantly. "Nope, haven't got a clue! But it that kind of thing always works itself out."

Juska couldn't help but smile herself at the ever happy priestess. "Somehow I figured as much. Well, the earth here tells me there's an abandoned cave nearby."

"Fantastic!" Magtera crowed, pleased.

"Alright, gal pals," she said turning back to the rest of the disgruntled women. "We now have a point of destination!"

"You mean you haven't known where we've been going until now?" Xig'wa growled in anger.

"Nope, but the Light always makes a way." Magtera stated turning back around she began walking behind the Tauren. Pendel laughed, and Shandra shook her head, at least now it was something, things couldn't get much worse.

The shelter was in fact a dark cave that had been gutted out by a racer cart gone awry from the Shimmering Flats. Wreckage of engine steel and blast marks still littered the old sight telling the women this cave was still a fresh one. Xig'wa entered first, her axe drawn, swiping at the vacant darkness, least something still decided to make the cave home.

"All clear," the troll called out after reaching the back. The others followed in, lead by Magtera's softly glowing staff.

"It's perfect!" Magtera said happily, planting her staff dead center on the ground, calling down more light so that it brightened up the cave considerably.

"At least it doesn't smell," Xig'wa sighed tiredly, placing her gear in a corner of the cave. She put a hand over her shoulder grimacing as she rubbed a kink out of her back.

"Not yet," Shandra mumbled none too lowly.

Xig'wa looked up at the paladin snarling slightly, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think you know, troll." Shandra's eyes narrowed dangerously.

The warrior grabbed her axe, walking over determinedly to the paladin, who clutched but had not drawn, sword.

"Peace friends," Magtera soothed, coming in between the warrior and paladin before the subtle implications turned into a full argument. Soothing magic crept from the priest hand, and she made a silent prayer, hoping no one would notice or bring attention to it.

"You are right, Forsaken," Xig'wa nodded, though rage still glinted in her ruby eyes.

"Yes, besides," Shandra shrugged, "I wouldn't waste the energy on Tra…"

"So everyone," Magtera interrupted in the nick of time folding her hand delicately in her large robe sleeves. "Let's make the introductions, shall we!"

No one answered, glaring at the overly eccentric priest, who shrugged, not deflated in the least.

"I guess I'll go first. I'm Magtera, missionary of the light and sometimes donkey whisperer." A he haw sound was made outside, making the undead turn toward the entrance. "And that noble steed, is Phyllis, the donkey I whisper to."

"I-I'm Juska, shaman in t-t-training." The Tauren stuttered. Her legs were drawn up to her chest, gazing into the light of the staff.

"I am Pendel the magnificent!" The goblin stood on a large rock where the other women had to look up to see her. The rogues arms were upraised, the signature goblin grin splayed across her face. Her bangs covered one eye, and she was constantly trying to blow the jasper green hair out of her way.

"Huh, typical goblin," Efera scoffed thoroughly unimpressed. "Always trying to make themselves look bigger than they are."

"Well you haven't said anything, smart mouth," Pendel retorted sharply.

Bor growled dangerously, only making the goblin growl back with what she thought was a ferocious snarl. The orc yawned stretching out where she lay, the bear huddling close beside her. "I'm Efera, this is Bor, and I'm going to sleep."

"You troll?" Magtera asked expectantly, her tone coaxing the warrior into joining the introductions.

"I am Xig'wa, warrior of the Dark spear tribe, and soldier of the first Kor'kron raiders, currently on leave," The troll stated lowly obviously not whishing for much discussion on the matter.

"Fancy title, "Shandra sneered, from her place by the staff.

The warrior stiffened turning to the paladin. "I'm sorry, not all of us do our fighting in a pit for money."

"You don't know me," the paladin snarled dangerously. "Dont make statments as if you had an inkling of knowledge behind what I do."

The warrior shrugged. "True I do not know you, but I know _of_ you. Shandra, an aspiring gladiator, hailing from the ruins of Quel'Thalas," Xig'wa stated. The warriors three fingered hand slowly began dropping to her axe as the elf neared her.

"Night, night, new gal pals!" Magtera quickly butted in, shutting out the staff light, leaving the warring women in the dark.

"Ah, c'mon, Mags," Pendel groaned, settling down, "I had a bet on those two!"

"I promote no violence, my friend." The voice of the priestess replied serenely.

"Pity," a male voice echoed through out the cave, "Here I was hoping you fine ladies could help me out a predicament."

The light of the staff lit up the cave once again; both Xig'wa and Shandra grabbed the male goblin that stood at the entrance simultaneously.

Efera sighed sitting up at the spectacle, "About time you louts heard him. He's been skulking around out there for ten minutes."

"Start talking, before we start chopping," Shandra growled savagely. Her grip tightened on the goblin's shirt collar and she all but shook him.

"Wait," Xig'wa said, placing a hand on the elf's shoulder. The paladin shrugged the hand away as the warrior continued. "There is no honor in killing someone who made himself known if he comes in friendship. If…" Xig'wa finished looking at the goblin with suspicion.

"Yes, I come in peace! Actually a deal." The goblin stammered as fast as his lips could move.

"In the middle of the night?" Xig'wa shook her head incredulously, "We're not interested."

"Speak for your self, troll!" Pendel, added quickly, shaking the male goblins hand.

Steely eyed, Shandra glared at the warrior. "Aye, you don't speak for me either, warrior."

"A kind of deal that must be made in the dark of night, is usually not an honorable nor a trustworthy one," Xig'wa retorted while turning her back on the goblin.

"Ah, but think of this deal like a job. Your payment, freedom back into the town, and use of the Wyvern." The goblin grinned as the warrior turned around, not agreeing, but listening. "But proper introductions must be made. I am Salvin Grimgear, Mayor of Gadgetstan." He made an overly showy bow, making the women roll their eyes.

"And I be Magtera," the priest said shaking the hand of the mayor vigorously. "Now, with all do respect, what on Azeroth do you want?"

The goblin pried his hand away from the forsaken grimacing in disgust a bit. "Like I said, before, to offer you fine ladies a job. Despite all our efforts to remain neutral with the habitants of the land, there are those who hate us. The trolls of Zul'farrak are no different."

Shandra grumbled something unintelligible about trolls as the goblin continued.

"They greedily hoard all the water of the region, even raiding the stations that we have dug on our own! None are safe to go into their territory; they kill with-out explanation or mercy. They even go so far as to kidnap my water scouts, kill them and steal the gear. With out water seeking gear, I am afraid the town will be in dire straights."

"And what would you have us do?" Efera asked, intrigued.

Salvin held his hand out in a peaceful gesture, shrugging. "I don't want a murder of a whole people, all I ask is that you go into their kingdom, kill their leader, so they'll scatter and bring me back any salvageable water readers."

"Sandscalp," Xig'wa uttered remembering the name of the infamous troll warlord. "I have heard of him, a dishonorable troll to say the least. Nasty lot those Sandfury are. They still practice the voodoo. It will bring me and my people much honor to see them defeated."

"Eh, I don't know," Pendel said slyly while twirling a stand of green hair. "This is an awful dangerous mission for just the promise of passage and a trip back into town…"

"A sack of gold, for all of you!" Grimgear, blurted out before covering his mouth.

It was then, they all knew a major problem, no goblin would offer so much on the first talk of payment.

"You're not telling us something," Shandra accused readily.

Salvin attempted to regain his composure, by smiling innocently. "I assure you ladies that is all that's required of you. I am a very generous mayor," He replied without missing a beat.

"Uh huh, and I'm queen of the Alliance," Efera scoffed. Clapping her hands together the orcess rubbed them eagerly. "Well I'm down for it at any rate, what about the rest of you?"

Xig'wa nodded solemnly, "I give my word of honor, to partake of the task, or die trying."

"I'm in," Shandra shrugged nonchalantly, her words uncaring.

"A troll city should be interesting," Juska finally spoke up.

"Sounds like fun," Pendel chuckled, rubbing her hands together greedily.

"And what about you, forsaken?" Salvin asked.

"O indeed, I'll be joining my gal pals. Someone has to be the diplomat on this trip."

"Good, good," Salvin said pleased, "Some bruisers we'll be along shortly to drop off supplies, best be ready. Good luck." As the goblin departed back to Gadegstan, he frowned whispering lowly. "You'll need it."


	4. Zul'Farrak

In the faint light of dawn the temperature of Tanaris had already reached the low 90's as the women came insight of the gates to the troll city. They looked for clues of sentries or guards as they rested their mounts in sparse shade of a few stunted palms so they could await their master's return. Magtera unpacked the gear on Phyllis, laying it down in the shade.

Pendel groaned slapping a hand to her forehead. "You're not taking that flea bag with us."

"Indeed I am," Magtera stated, patting the donkey gently, "I am not leaving my precious Phyllis here to become a four course meal to the rest of your mounts!"

By the starving way the raptor, wolf, and plain strider looked at the donkey that was exactly on their minds.

"Quiet you two!" Xig'wa rebuked, her eyes gazing over the magnificent gate. "We have more important things to figure out, like how to get inside."

"Eh, that's easy," Pendel said rolling her eyes in annoyance. Before anyone could stop her, the goblin easily scaled the wall, disappearing over it.

"Well that's all well and good for you, Pendel." Shandra whispered as high as she would let her voice go. "But some of us are garbed more heavily, and noisier than just leather!"

"And how are we to get Phyllis over the wall?" Magtera added on worriedly.

There was no answer from the over confident goblin. All was still as silent as when they had neared the gates. Suddenly the doors began to move. Sand shifted from the top of the gates causing the women below to jump backwards so that they wouldn't get hit by the sand and whatever else might be mixed with it. Everyone clutched their weapons as the door finally slid open fully reveling the sandy roads of the troll kingdom.

"Well come on in!" Pendel announced with a smug grin while leaning against one of the doors.

The ladies entered warily single file, all eyes searching for trouble. Xig'wa was the last to walk in, her weapons still at the ready. "No guards, that is odd."

"Trolls aren't the brightest things on Azeroth," Shandra mumbled, thankfully out of Xig'wa's earshot.

"It has been my experience, that the king of the jungle, has no need to watch his back," Efera acknowledged.

"You are right, Efera, it could just be arrogance and pride," Xig'wa shrugged though her tone was dubious.

Unknown to them, a troll with sandy colored hair, was watching them from afar. Once they had entered the gates, he made all haste to his master. He knelt at the feet of one enormous troll. Sandscalp the legendary overlord of Tanaris. The one eyed leader was gently petting the scaly head of a desert serpent who wrapped itself around his throne as he listened to the scouts report.

"The intruders have crossed the gate, chieftain." The scout announced.

Sandscalp nodded mildly, a huge tusky grin coming to his face. "Good, by the time they reach the middle of the city they won't know what hit them!"

The women walked through the ancient troll city warily and yet not seeing a soul. It was as if the city hadn't been lived in a millennia. The wind made the only sound as it whistled through cracks in the yellow walls of the city. Ancient hieroglyphics and artwork festooned the dull yellow walls. Pictures of scenic life, and glorious battles in the desert, made Xig'wa look at them in unabashed impression.

"So much history, so much life that thrives in this accursed place. A time when my people were honorable and lived for family and glory!" The warrior whispered in awe, running her hands over the walls.

"It doesn't thrive, it festers," Shandra blurted, interrupting the warrior's reprieve.

"Keep your foolish word in your mouth!" Xig'wa snapped at the paladin.

Shandra snorted angrily at the troll. "The same should apply for you then. You seem impressed by your filthy cousins, how do I know you aren't working for them in secret?"

"You dispute my honor by claiming me a traitor?" the warrior asked dangerously. Xig'wa's lifted her axe and shield into a defensive fighting posture, circling around the elf.

Shandra grinned maliciously lifting her claymore eagerly for battle. "Draw whatever conclusion of my words you wish, savage."

While the fight was taking place, Magtera leaned over a cracked canonic jar inspecting a bit of dribbling residue that pooled upon the sand. Whatever it had held emanated pure evil, telling the priest rather sadly that there would be no talks of peace.

"What have you found, Mag?" Pendel asked, hanging on to Juska's shoulder as they bent down to examine the jar with the priestess.

The forsaken sighed rising from the ground. "Nothing good, we had better catch up to Shandra and Xig'wa before they start rubbing shoulders."

"To late," Efera informed the undead. Leaning on a wall the hunter gazed at the two brawl at the far end of the path.

"Not again." Magtera sighed, racing down to the warring women.

"Hey, Mag, I got 2 to 1 Shandra wins, what say you?" Pendel yelled after the priest.

Efera laughed as shaman and rogue ran to catch up. The orcess took a more leisurely gait by strolling down the path, Bor faithfully by her side. The huntress was ruffling the bear's fur between its ears when the bear halted suddenly, sniffing the air warily, and getting up on his hind paws. There was a warning growl in his throat.

"Yea," Efera mumbled, placing an arrow in her bow, "I feel it to." Her eyes searched the terrain as she slowly began to back up to the gates. "Hey Ladi-" she began, attempting to call to the others. But a dark mist shrouded her eyes, sending the hunter and pet into a world of darkness.

"Gal pals, I beg you do not fight. That is the last thing we need in here!" Magtera pleaded as she came up as far as she dared to the barbarous fight.

"No!" Xig'wa cried parrying a blow from the claymore. "She has disputed my honor. As a warrior, I can not let such an insult pass with out spilling her blood!"

"That works just fine for me," Shandra smirked seemingly confident. But she knew she and the warrior where almost equally matched, and there was a terrible possibility she would not win this fight.

"Yea let them fight it out. Oblivious to the fact, Efera has gone missing," Pendel observed dryly.

The fighters halted looking around, as did Magtera and Juska.

"Efera!" They called out, just remembering now they were in enemy territory. The disquiet Efera had felt was slowly beginning to draw them in as well. From out of nowhere savage cries rent the once still air. Trolls ambushed the small band in droves. Five voodoo priest chanted to subdue Magtera, their wards appearing around the Forsakens feet, totally halting any spell the priest attempted.

"Run, Phyllis!" she cried in alarm, sending the donkey fleeing.

Pendel leapt off Juska's shoulders, as the trolls, carrying chains and clubs, beat the paladin and shaman into bloody unconsciousness.

She twirled her daggers expertly. "Guess it's just me and you, Xig," the rogue said more confident than she felt. She heard a heavy thump hit the ground and knew the warrior was down as well. A sharp sting hit the goblins neck, a dart laced with poison, slowly taking her into the world of darkness.

"Oh damn," was the last word Pendel uttered upon seeing the trolls move in to claim their prizes.

~8~8~

Xig'wa awoke as the fiery sun was setting. The poison had run its course in the troll's blood stream, leaving her feeling nauseous and tired. She looked around, seeing she was in a cage, surrounded by other cages housing the other five women. By the blood stains that covered the cage bars and walls, the cages had held others very recently, probably a day before their arrival.

"About time you came to, troll," Shandra whispered lowly.

Xig'wa looked around to see all but Juska awake from their bout with the ambushing trolls of the desert. She stood up shakily, almost doubling over to retch, but by the extensive fortitude of her warrior spirit, she kept herself balanced.

"Cowards, who dare ambush us?" the warrior yelled out, hopefully challenging their captors into showing their faces.

The sound of slowly striding footsteps could be heard coming up the sand worn steps. A troll garbed all in black, and carrying a huge keen axe stalked up to the cages. He looked at them all, as if sizing up their worth, then donning a thin cruel smile. " Excellent, more sacrifices for Gahzrilla, your blood will fuel the host. Hakkar shines down on us this day!"

The name of the dreaded troll god made Xig'wa temporarily forget her ailing. Furiously she slammed her might at the cage door, cursing and beating at it with a vigor that made the executioner step back in alarm.

"Give it a rest, warrior," Shandra snorted exasperatedly, but the paladins face had gone decidedly pale.

"You all will be lucky to die tomorrow for the old god," he said after regaining his composure. "But until then, a smaller offering will make do." With that, the troll walked back down the steps not looking back at the women, who were probably in his mind already dead.

That jolt of rage had drained Xig'wa of any energy she had. Wearily, the warrior slunk back to the ground wearily, shutting her eyes, at the ever darkening twilight sky.

"This is just great," Juska mumbled, finally awake, in time to see the executioner leave. "What do you think he meant by a smaller offering?"

"By the great goblin himself I hope he didn't mean me!" Pendel said suddenly alarmed.

"No," Efera shook her head, picking a piece of rag that laid in her cage, sniffing and examining it thoroughly. "I'd say someone was or is alive, that was taken from here recently."

Silence ensued for long minutes, everyone thinking about their fate.

"This is all your fault, troll," Shandra mumbled, kicking at the cage bars testily.

"My fault? Oh, I have to hear this!" Xig'wa said amazed at the accusation.

"As one of them, you should have predicted that maneuver they pulled."

The warrior's face darkened. "Not all trolls think alike, nor are all of us under handed."

"Look, ladies," Pendel interrupted suddenly very serious, "I like a good argument like the next goblin, but we need a way out of here, and fast."

"And how do you purpose we do that?" Shandra snapped.

"Not to worry, gal pals," Magtera said gleefully, making a sharp whistling noise with her fingers, "Our rescue is at hand!"

"What are you talking about, Mag?" Juska asked, as a loud he haws sound was heard at the bottom of the steps. Phyllis galloped up, coming directly to Magtera, to the shock of all.

Pendel could only blink in amazement for a moment before finding words to speak. "Great, you've trained the donkey to come, now what's your bright idea?"

A skeleton key dropped out of the donkeys mouth, covered in saliva as the priest unlocked the doors.

"I put it in her mouth when they caught us," she explained, opening the rest of the cage doors. She stopped as she came to Xig'wa and Shandra's cages. "Unless you two give me your words that you can work together for the rest of the time we're in here, I am not unlocking you," Magtera stated calmly.

"But…" Shandra began.

Magtera shook her head firmly interrupting the paladin. "No buts, Shandra."

"She questioned my honor, the highest insult to a warrior!" Xig'wa argued but it was in vain.

"You can duke it out when we are out of here, your fighting will tear us apart before the Sandfury do." Magtera explained.

"Us?" Shandra scoffed, "There is no us, just a bunch of foolish people stupid enough to go on a suicide mission in the desert."

"For once we agree," Xig'wa said, looking back to the paladin. "I give my word, Magtera."

"I guess I have no choice," Shandra shrugged.

"Goody." Magtera smiled, unlocking the doors.

The two women stared long and hard at one another before grabbing their weapons that had been laid to the side, rejoining the rest of the group.

"Which way did they go, Efera?" Xig'wa asked while putting her armor back into place. The orc knelt to the ground examining light tracks the sand had left of the troll's foot prints. She pointed west. "That away."

'That way' turned out to lead to a huge outlet of the city. Torches hung on every part of the wall illuminating the huge place. It looked to be some sort of ritual room comprised of a long rectangular pool.

The large pool, surrounded by trolls, bubbled and simmered ominously. All attention was turned to the front of the water where Sandscalp, and what the women determined was their high priestess, stood. In front of them lay a naked human girl, splayed across a bloody altar, looking in horror at the high priestess that had a dagger raised over her head.

"Hakkar, except this small offering from your servant, Gahzrilla!" The high priestess hissed. She began to plunge the dagger into the human's heart, the chanting of frenzied trolls making the act a high spectacle. Before the dagger got half-way to the human's heart, an arrow shot through the troll's chest. The high priestess dropped the dagger, clutching the wound and staring ahead dumbly, as if she hadn't known what had just happened.

Uzrok turned around, to see who had shot the priestess just as another arrow flew. He watched in fear and surprise as the five women gave a battle cry rushing forward to the startled trolls. "Don't just stand there, kill them!" Uzrok yelled, scrambling to the back of the mass of trolls as the women engaged them. Sandscalp may have been cowardly, but he wasn't stupid, he knew before the women engaged the trolls they were facing a loosing battle. The chieftain summoned his private guard to him stealing back to his throne all the while hoping and praying to Hakkar that his people might be able to finish them off. That prayer however was not to be answered.

The women cut and hacked a bloody path in the Sandfury ranks till most of the trolls retreated. One, to scared to know where to run, dropped his weapon, falling to his knees and shaking in fear. "I surrender!" He yelled, covering his hands with his head.

Xig'wa stood over him, sheathing her axe. She nudged her head to the exit. "Get out of he-."

Shandra came from the side, quickly dispatching the head from the troll's body.

Xig'wa turned to the paladin in shock. "Why did you do that?"

"He was an enemy." She replied callously.

"He surrendered!"

"No such thing, as surrender. I'm a gladiator, remember. I show no mercy," She replied nonchalantly.

It took all of Xig'wa's power not to strike the paladin, remembering her pledge of honor. After all the bodies had been thoroughly made sure to be dead, they went over to the girl, where Magtera was already there, untying her. The girl was bloody and bruised, unconscious and barely breathing. She had to be no older the Juska, the sun had baked on her pink skin. All of them stood over the limp form wondering where she had come from and why was she about to be offered as a troll sacrifice.

"You want to kill her to?" Xig'wa asked Shandra angrily.

Magtera mumbled healing prayer over the girl, placing her cloak over her body. "Watch over her, Phyllis," she ordered gently, "We still have a warlord to catch."

Had the women been more attentive, instead of pondering the human's presence, they would have seen that the water in the sacrificial pool had gotten still. The bubbling had stopped and there was only one ripple that was slowly growing larger as five snapping heads rose up from the water.

The paladin's eyes widened as she was the first to notice the monstrous beast coming out of the pool. "Look out!" Shandra shouted, tackling Xig'wa to the ground as the beast swung one of his many heads in her direction.

It towered over the women snarling and frothing at the mouth. The beast had fully, come out of the water the five heads snapping and slithering in every direction. Xig'wa got back up to her feet, running to combat their new foe, along with Pendel, and Shandra. Juska had already began to combat the menace. Calling upon the earth mother to give her the power to smite one of the large fanged heads. Magtera sat beside the human, seeming oblivious as she chanted prayers over her. The heads began to snap down around the women, who dodged the bulky craniums.

"We need to take these heads down!" Efera yelled, her arrows flying wildly to the beast, many just bouncing off its hard carapace. The hunter then began aiming for the eyes, with Bor charging at its throat sending the head livid with painful rage.

Pendel grinned. "Sounds like a plan." Within moment, the rogue deftly jumped on to one of the beasts head, driving her daggers into the base of its neck, hacking and slashing. She rode it like an en raged Ellek, laughing and yelling as if she was having the time of her life.

Shandra twirled her sword jumping to a head that had decided to crush her with its large skull. She rolled under him thrusting her sword up to the base of his jaw. She then twisted her claymore, boring a hole upwards to its brain.

Two of the heads dove for Xig'wa, thinking her an easy kill. Her shield barely deflected one of the skulls blows as she lept out of range of their giagntic teeth. She glanced towards the priest, who hadn't moved, shaking her head, "Way to pull your weight, Magtera," the warrior grumbled.

Both heads seemed to work in unison trying to pound Xig'wa into dust. The one on the left swiped at her leaving Xig'wa unprotected. She thought she was doomed as it made impact. She landed on the sand with a thud, though not in pain. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt as much as it would seemed to. A faint glow of a shield of light hovered over the warrior, making her inwardly apologize to the priest. She got up again, this time not moving, as she had done before.

"Come on, monster!" she murmured, as the beast began to do just that.

The left head dove down hurriedly, ready to smash the warrior into pulp. At the last minute, Xig'wa moved to the side, crashing her shield down toward the skull, using the shield as a mace. The Hydra thrashed under the beating, brains and bone flying wildly. The right head, seeing its fellow brought low, soared down, its mouth open, just as Xig'wa hoped it would. With the grim stead fastness only a warrior could posses she let the mouth devour her. Devour, but not swallow. To the beasts painful surprise, the troll began cutting and hacking the inside of the mouth to pieces. It writhed in agony, attempting to spew the troll out of his mouth, but there was no getting rid of the warrior. She jumped out of the mouth as it made its last death throes, she grinned wiping saliva and blood off of her shoulder armor.

"Not so hard," Pendel said chuckled, cleaning her daggers.

"I wonder what Uzrok, has been up to while his pet had kept us busy." Juska asked, murmuring her spells to pick up her totems.

"It does us know good to wonder, all we can do is prepare the best we can to face the coward," Xig'wa said, fishing out her shield from one the Hydra's many heads. "Magtera," She called, waving her hand over to her, " Come on, we can come back for the human after Sandscalp is defeated."

"You are correct," she said rather sadly saying one more prayer over the unconscious human, "It will do us or her no good if the troll lives. Lead on."

The five women stalked through the city, seeing neither hide nor hair of any other foe, till coming to a great sealed wooden gate.

"Well, he certainly came prepared." Magtera said, cheerily, tapping on the wooden beams.

"Eh, I don't see any way around it," Shandra snorted annoyed, kicking sand at its direction, "Unless we decide to chop it down."

"Juska, think you could take it down?" Xig'wa asked.

The shaman closed her eyes, murmuring a fire spell at the gate. Molten lava seemed to shoot from her hand, the fiery inferno crashing into the gate and devouring the dry wood. Smiling, Xig'wa slapped the shaman on the back nodding in appreciation. She turned to the other ladies, nudging her head to the path the fire of battle glinting in her eyes. "Come on, ladies. Lets go catch our bounty."

Uzrok Sandscalp, sat on his throne, triumphant that the Hydra had did its job. But even if there was a rare chance one or two had survived, he was surrounded by his best guards, armed to the teeth, and totally devoted to him. He couldn't have been more shocked when the gates blew open, the women running onward looking like fierce hands of vengeance as they charged through the smoke and ash.

"Get them, kill them!" the troll chieftain roared. But they were not to be defeated. Troll after troll fell, till it left only Sandscalp. He seemed frozen as he watched his last guard fall. In less than a day, he had watched his whole kingdom come un done. "Curse you, CURSE YOU!" he spat, running to them in the desperation of a trapped man.

It seemed like time slowed, as Shandra and Xig'wa moved simultaneously as the crazed troll ran toward them. The warriors axe went for the neck, while the paladin's blade thrust for the gut. They twirled in the same motion cutting him down with no more than a painful squeak on his part.

"Well, that ends that," Shandra said triumphantly, using her blade to severe the head form the body as proof.

"Indeed," Xig'wa nodded, she used her axe severe a few fingers from the dead troll as war trophies. Magtera had already left to get the human girl, taking Pendel and Efera with her, and since Pendel was gone that meant Juska, who she had taken to riding on, was gone as well, leaving the warrior and Paladin to take the long walk back to their friends. They were silent for a time, each pondering their own thoughts.

"You fight well," Xig'wa stated filling in the silence, "The grunts gossiped as such."

Shandra's lips upturned slightly. "So that's how you knew who I was.

"I heard your name once or twice around the barracks," She shrugged.

"Odd, I was about to say the same for you."

"You have heard of me?" Xig'wa asked, nearly laughing.

"Gladiator gossip, many who moon light as gladiators are soldiers, on leave. I have heard a story or two of the red haired troll warrior always in the line of fire."

More silence in sued, both not sure what to say next.

"You don't like me, do you?" Xig'wa said, though it was more of a statement than a question.

"Don't take it personally, it's all trolls in general."

"I figured as much, but as a matter of fact, I don't care if you like me or not. But we make a fine team, you have to admit that."

"So?" Shandra shrugged, not sure where this was heading.

"So, if we all decided to stick around for a little longer, do you think we could, be at least tolerant of each other."

The paladin stopped for a moment, as if considering the offer very carefully. "I will if you will," she said slowly.

"Then it is so," the warrior nodded, as they moved on.

"But what about that whole, disputing your honor, and drawing my blood stuff you said earlier?"

"Let bygones be bygones. I will over look it this once. We have shed more than enough blood today."

The paladin nodded as well as they came into view of the others. It wasn't perfect, but it was a start. They walked up to the rest of the women, all ready to go. The human had been laid on Phyllis' back comfortably. With Uzrok slain, no one dared try to attack them. With out interference, they walked out of the city, the head of Sandscalp slung carelessly in a pack.


	5. First Payment

A goblin bruiser rested in the dim coolness of the cave the women had once inhabited. His hands were behind his head, legs propped up on a rock as he tried to catch another nap. Letting out a huge jaw cracking yawn he scratched his stomach lazily enjoying the extra rest immensely. He had been ordered to wait a ten-day before coming back into town to certify the women were dead. The bloodthirsty Sandscalp and his people would be soothed for a few months with such prized scarifies the women would offer to his hydra, fulfilling Grimgear's purposes wonderfully until the next couple of suckers came by. Chuckling wickedly the bruiser shifted more comfortably as he watched the lazy heat lines rise from the golden desert sand. The bruiser could not have been more surprised to see the women all alive, walking over a sand dune towards him. They looked a little worse for wear, armor dinged and dented, and blood on their bodies but otherwise in one piece.

The bruiser literally fell backwards in shock. "You survived!" He stammered in amazement, picking himself up from the ground.

Xig'wa picked him up by his shirt collar, shaking him like a rag doll, "Yes, and your master has much to answer for. Fetch him, quickly!" She ordered throwing him out unto the hot sand.

"And if he decides to skip out on us, tell him we don't have any problem coming to find him!" Pendel added as the goblin raced to Gadgetstan. The rogue nodded to the warrior in assurance as they watched the tiny cloud of dust the bruiser put off. "That should clench the deal. Grimgear won't dare try to cheat us now."

With the payment on the way, and freedom to escape the desert, all they had to do was wait for Grimgear. Xig'wa was going to unload her pack from Sharpclaw when a groan emanated from the interior of the cave echoing through the coolness. The human had been laid there under Magtera's request so that she could monitor her condition. There hadn't been too much damage done by the Sandfury but the desert was a lethal place, anything could have affected the human.

"Well look who's finally up," Pendel snickered.

"Good," Xig'wa said turning away from Sharpclaw to walk into the dark mouth of the cave. "I have a few questions that need to be answered."

"Absolutely not!" Magtera cried out as she came into the bright noon sun of Tanaris. She stood bravely firm in front of the cave blocking the path to the human.

Xig'wa sighed trying to reason with the priestess calmly. "I only need to ask a few questions and you'll be with me as well, seeing as I only know a few snatches of common. It's for the best and you know it."

The priest looked as if she thought about it for sometime, weighing Xig'wa's words before nodding slowly, giving a sigh of resignation, "Only a few, you promise?"

"I give you my word," Xig'wa said holding one hand up in an oath.

Nodding once more the priestess stepped to the side, so that the warrior could get through and work her way to the back of the cave. However small the goblin racing cart that made this cave must have been it had certainly done its inadvertent job well. It was wide very deep adding coolness against the desert sun. The two women sat to either side of the girl, who leaned more to the side Magtera was on upon seeing the troll.

"This is Xig'wa," the priest said soothingly in common, "She is an honorable troll that will do you no harm. But, we need you to answer a few questions."

The girl looked from Magtera to Xig'wa warily, before giving a slow nod to the request.

"What is your name?" the warrior began hoping her voice did not sound to demanding and harsh to frighten the human.

"She says she doesn't know." Magtera replied with a shrug.

"Where do you live?"

"Again she doesn't know."

"How and why did you come here?"

"She says she doesn't know where here is, only that she thinks she teleported herself from a battle here, but isn't sure."

"Loas be damned," Xig'wa growled in annoyance, slamming her fist against the cool rock, her patience at an end. "What does she know!"

A slush of cold water, nearly ice, drenched the warrior, causing her to gasp in surprise at the sudden sensation. After being so long in the heat it was like a lance of shock running through her putting the troll temporarily off guard. She wiped the slushy mess from her eyes blinking rapidly.

"She knows she's a mage, but not at very good one, since that was meant to freeze you in place," Magtera laughed holding her bony ribs.

"What's all the noise, back here?" Pendel asked, as the other women came down to the belly of the cave.

"It seems our friend here has a touch of amnesia," Magtera said still giggling at Xig'wa. By the look on the warriors face no said anything about it. They were not afraid but having no desire to be slammed against a rock wall.

"Not to worry, I can clear that up in a jiffy!" The priest assured them as she knelt in front of the girl placing her bony hands at the mages temples. "All I have to do is shift through her memories, to find the right one to trigger them all."

Magtera closed her eyes, chanting the spell, her bony fingers rotating around the girl's temples as if she was being put under hypnotism. The human's eyes began to droop and flicker as she was lulled into a calm doze. After a few minutes of the spell Magtera's rotting brow began to furrow in confusion. That chanting stopped abruptly waking the human up immediately.

"Oh, dear," Magtera mumbled, "This is isn't right." The forsaken stepped back obviously shaken. "She has no memories," The priestess stated extremely surprised.

"What do you mean?" Juska asked, "Every one has memories."

"Picture a pond," Magtera began explaining, "The pond is your head, and all the fishes in the pond are memories. Now usually when a person gets amnesia it's like sludge growing over the pond, blocking the view of the fish. all I usually have to do is remove some of the preverbal sludge, so we can see the fish again."

"And you couldn't get through the sludge," Xig'wa concluded.

"No, I did get through the sludge. The fact is the fish aren't there. Well I guess they may be there, but that it a very big may. Furthermore I can't make them come to the surface even if they are, she must do that on her own."

"And how long will that take?" Shandra asked.

"Who knows, the mind is a tricky thing. Maybe today, perhaps never," Magtera shrugged, bending down to speak with the girl in low tones.

"Ah well, the goblins aren't going to be happy taking care of a mage who can't remember anything," Shandra said seemingly carelessly.

"Aye," Xig'wa nodded, almost feeling sorry for the human.

"What do you mean, the goblins aren't going to be happy? We're taking her with us!" Efera said, with such a vigor, it made all, save Magtera looked up in surprise.

"She'll need some clothes, and a name," Magtera said, speaking to herself happily. She still spoke a few healing spells to the human patching up a few minor scrapes.

"We don't know where we're going, if anywhere at all together," Shandra argued.

"We can pick up some clothes at the clothier in town, they might have something human sized," Magtera said though she looked once more as if she was talking to herself.

"Efera," Xig'wa spoke calmly, drawing the argument to a halt. The warriors tone was sympathetic and understanding but also mixed with a bit of helpless disbelief. "We owe her nothing, and she is Alliance. Are sworn enemy."

"Alliance," Magtera mumbled thoughtfully. She tapped her chin pondering over the word, "Alliance, Alliance… Ally!" She said snapping her bony fingers as the answer hit her, "We'll call you Ally!"

"Mag," Pendel growled, her voice bristling with annoyance.

The priest turned to her grinning. "Yes?"

"Shut it!"

The orcess stepped in front of the human protectively, her arms crossed stubbornly refusing to let the matter drop. "If you call Ally our sworn enemy, then I am ashamed to call myself Horde," Efera stated pointing down to the human. Garbed in what was left of a blue robe, silent and mostly confused, she wasn't a threat presently to anyone. The hunter knew what she was doing, to call the girl by her newly given name, gave a sense of knowing and responsibility, making it all the harder to argue about abandoning her. And abandonment was something the orc never wished on her most hated foe.

Shandra had gone silent, looking down at the rocks below pondering the orc's words. Pendel and Juska had brooked no protest in the first place, and Magtera seemed to know they were taking her before the argument had begun at all. All she faced now was an unmovable stubborn warrior.

"We will see how the day goes," Xig'wa said slowly, not agreeing but not dismissing the notion at all.

"If that's the best I'll get for now, I'll take it," Efera nodded, with more than a little relief in her voice. There was hope.

"And just in time to!" Pendel grinned widely as the goblins began walking into the cave. Grimgear's face had gone nearly the paleness of the moon, gazing at them in un abashed astonishment of their return, as he addressed the women. "A welcome sight to see you all alive and well, ladies," He began along with adding a formal if not curt bow.

"Surprised?" Xig'wa said with a hint of anger in her voice, throwing the head of Uzrok at his feet. The head rolled until stopping at the goblins expensive black boots splashing them with blood.

"Quite," He replied abandoning the false manner of flattery with the head of his enemy at his feet. He picked it up gingerly examining it thoroughly to make sure he hadn't been bamboozled. The one good eye, a milky white, the other sewn shut. Orange hair lying matted on its forehead with it own blood. Yes, there was no denying that it was Sandscalp himself. "Well, everything seems to be in order," the goblin sighed broken heartedly handing over the gold, "Your pictures have been taken of the 'do not let in' posters, so all is well."

"Not quite," Shandra piped up gripping her claymore. "We want to be able to acquire a few items free of charge in your town."

"What, why?" the goblin asked aghast.

"How about forgetting to mention the giant Hydra the Sandfury kept!" Efera cried outraged, her hands balled into fist that looked more than ready to punch the tiny mayor.

"O," the goblin blushed ever so slightly in embarrassment kicking a few pebbles." A minor over sight, I'm sorry, but I can't seem to help you ladies, for a slip of my memories."

"A slip!" Xig'wa growled, her hand on her axe handle, only held back by the priest.

"I got this, ladies," Pendel said, slithering up to the other crafty goblin, she placed an arm around him in a friendly manner. "Now, even though the Sandfury are with out a leader, for now, how long do you think it'll be fore the next upstart shows his ugly mug?" Before the mayor could respond she continued. Pendel sighed playing with her nails. "Now lets say us ladies, happen to go in their direction and inform all the charming blood thirsty trolls who ordered the bounty on Sandscalp."

"You wouldn't," Salvin whispered in fear his eyes growing wide.

"Oh, most defiantly we would, we're… mercenaries," Pendel confirmed while glancing to the others.

They all nodded in acceptance to their title, for it appeared that was exactly what they were. Working for the highest amount of coin.

"Fine, fine!" the mayor said unenthusiastically, "Take what ever you want, but only for a day."

"Deal," the rogue smiled, shaking the mayor's hand.

Ally shifted in the back ground, making the crafty goblin leader take notice. He arched an eyebrow, glancing towards the human. "Seems you brought some one along from your little excursion."

"Yea, we found her about to be slaughtered on a troll sacrificial altar," Pendel admitted carelessly.

Salvin nodded understandably, mistaking the women's intentions, "So is she for sale privately, or are you putting her up on the auction block for a split share?"

Efera grinned inwardly in triumph as she saw the warriors face turn into a mask of anger. The foolish goblins statement had indeed clenched the deal that the human was not to be abandoned. Xig'wa had almost punched the goblin square in the jaw, but this was not the place or time. True, they were technically mercenaries and many dealt in the trade of slaves. It was un honorable to say the least, making rage grow even more in her belly.

"Ally is not a slave," Shandra barely spit out through gritted teeth. She seemed more enraged than the warrior, making Xig'wa temporarily forget her anger to stare at the furious blood elf.

"To bad, she would've sold well." Grimgear sighed, seemingly oblivious of the dangerous growing tension in the cave. But perhaps he did notice it wanting a fight to break out so he could renege his gold and shopping spree. Sadly for him, it did not happen, and so the mayor of Gadgetstan departed, a great deal poorer than when he left.

"Well, that's that," Juska sighed tiredly, counting the bag of coins. The tauren seemed in awe at handling so much gold. She let the glimmering coins run through her fingers before they slid back into the sack.

"Aye, now all we have to do, is go into town tomorrow and pick up a few, things then…" Shandra trailed off sarcastically. "Then we have no idea where they were going."

"Hmm, where would a band of mercenaries go?" Pendel thought aloud.

"Where ever there's business," Xig'wa answered plainly, "So any one know a place where business is booming?"

"The folks in Silithus are always looking for a few hands to pitch in, for a price of course. We have to cross the crater to get there, but with all the cultist and bug-men running around, it could be quite a gold mine," Efera announced.

A murmur of agreement echoed through the cave, as the sun finally fell from its tyrannical reign in the sky.

"What about the human?" Xig'wa asked nudging her head to the girl, "I doubt the Horde will take kindly into bringing a human into the outpost."

"The main outpost is led by the Cenarion circle. Truth be told, their so desperate down there, they wont care who we are," Efera replied lying back against the wall tiredly.

"How do you know all this stuff?" Juska asked suspiciously.

"I get around," the orc shrugged, taking out some dried food rations from her pack.

"A good thing to," Xig'wa mumbled, fishing around her pack for her own dinner. "I doubt the wyvern riders will allow us to take the human on the beasts back."

"And an extra bonus," Magtera added on as the hunter threw her some food which she gave to the human, "It'll give me time to teach Ally some orcish."

~8~8~

The next morning they entered town before the sun came up. Many were already busy rushing to and fro hurriedly to get their tasks accomplished before the heat rose. The sun was just rising as the women were ready to depart. Xig'wa had managed to get her armor repaired from the Hydra fight, her plate gleaming in the first rays of light, even though once the sun got hot enough she would take it off in favor of a leather jerkin. Efera had stocked her bags with arrows, bowstring, and treats for her bear, which she spoiled without regret. The cunning Pendel had wandered off early when they arrived in town, what ever she now carried, she carried carefully, making everyone else guess it was poison for her precious daggers. Magtera, light bless her, had stuffed her bags with candles, scrolls , and bandages, and salves, that stuck out every which way in her bag. The forsaken always argued she never had enough candles, for prayer. Why you needed candle to pray was beyond Xig'wa to know. Juska had brought extra food along for the trip, let it be known Tauren ate a lot. And a mysterious thing called an ankh that emanated very powerful magic. When the warrior had asked her what they were for, the shaman smiled as if she knew a secret, and would only say, "In case we run into more trouble than we can handle."

Shandra had brought nothing, instead she led Ally around to buy much needed items, it didn't look suspicious for a blood elf to be seen with the human, given the fact their people had once been allied with them, and that some had chose to reject their allegiance with the Horde. When they met up again, Ally was dressed in a light blue jerkin with the same colored trousers, a dagger in her brown boots, and a polished hard wood staff on her back. Her red hair held back by a thin strip of leather, her emerald eyes, sparkled with wonder and excitement. To another human, she would have been called beautiful. A pack of her own, filled with 'moon juice' and a few spell regents the trader had said she might need. He might have been only trying to pinch a few extra coins out of them, but better safe then sorry. She hung close to the paladin, as if only seeing all these things for the first time in her life.

"Looks like we're ready," Xig'wa said, as they all met up in the middle of town.

"Ally, you'll be riding with Xig'wa," Magtera translated to the human pointing to the large emerald raptor.

"Very…well," Ally replied in rough orcish, to the priest delight, the mage was a quick study, already grasping the language.

"No, wait," Pendel said slyly, gazing at a horse that was stabled, undoubtedly the Dranei, who never seemed to leave the towns, mount. "That big blue bozo never paid me the rest of my gold. I guess I'll consider us even after this."

The Dranei was still in a drunken doze, in the inn, completely unaware of the theft. The six mercenaries rode out, Efera and Xig'wa leading their way.

"Hey, let's sing a song," Magtera suggested, "They always sang this one in Undercity. Just a small town girl, living in Goldshire. She took the midnight tram going anywhere!" The priest belted off key.

"No, Magtera, NO!" Pendel groaned.

Ally laughed at their antic's as they made their way across an ocean of sand. Seven women thrown together, to death or destiny, has yet to be determined.


	6. Un'goro:Efera's Tale

_A-N: Now I am putting in the chapters the little back stories of the women and what made them like they are. Efera is first since she's the one I basically explore Azeroth with. _

The path down to Un'goro crater was relatively calm. Little dragonflies buzzed upon the sparse flowers that bloomed upon the path their wings buzzing happily. Yes, all was calm, until six women barreled down the pass, racing for their lives from dozens of shambling tree like creatures. The beast howled in outrage and anger loping onwards with amazing speed. As they reached the edge of the crater, the moss looking creatures finally gave up the chase, only roaring out warning screeches as they headed back to what was left of their home.

"That's the last time I'm letting you lead us through a 'short-cut', Pendel!" Xig'wa yelled the warrior was hardy, but she trembled just slightly at the narrow escape. Her hands were clutching the reigns to Sharpclaw so tightly her knuckles had become a pale blue. The poor raptor was heaving in huge intakes of air from their ride. Xig'wa could feel the loyal beast's side bellowing as it gulped down air ravenously sweat and a bit of blood coating its pristine jade hide. The warrior had felt the most ill at ease, since she had not been wearing her plate. Since the excursion had began, she had longed abandoned the necessity for wearing her armor, due to the fact it would probably cook her as they traversed the desert, she almost felt naked without it. Now with the shady growth of trees, making a stark contrast to the almost white sand, the warrior looked forward to donning her plate again.

She also looked forward to eating something different than scorpion claws, and tough hyena meat, being in the desert for 3 weeks made a person grateful, and by the looks of the abundance of the crater from here, the hunting would be fruitful. Not that Ally could not have made bread, but the girl's spells were erratic at best, making her dangerous. For wasn't that the whole reason they were running? True, Pendel had led to strait into the shambles territory, but it was made to escalate thanks to a fire spell, gone awry, burning down half the shambles trees. Thankfully Magtera was teaching her control of her mystical art along with orcish dedicating herself to the proof that the human would come in useful.

The warrior turned to Juska who was shaking so badly, she had dropped the reigns to her Kodo. "First narrow escape, huh," Pendel said nonchalantly, patting the Tauren on the back, "Don't worry, you get used to it, by the next ten times."

Xig'wa noted though, when the rogue put a water skin up to her lips, her hand was shaking with water dribbling down the leather. For all her bravado, the rogue was just as shaken.

"So this is Un'goro," Shandra whispered, looking around her in awe, for just a moment before turning back to the cold uncaring gladiator, "Glad to be out of that light be damned sun!"

"It is good to see more than just sand, for once," Ally said slowly, testing out her new speech abilities, though avoiding Xig'wa's stern gaze. Ally knew the warrior's fiery gaze was dead center on her. She could even feel the heat of it on her neck. Xig'wa was constantly scrutinizing her with a keen eye that often turned angry when she screwed up. She had a notion the warrior didn't like her or even hated her remembering the argument of bringing her along that first day.

They walked for a time in the dense forest, coming to a place where raptors dwelled. Trolls bred raptors for mount in the Durotar plains, but these were different. The raptors of the crater were huge beast of blue and purple colors, stalking around in tribes almost.

"It seems the raptors have expanded their territory," Efera whispered to the rest of the women as they peaked at them from behind a few fern fronds. Bones and bits of spoiled flesh surrounded by flies lay spread out across the Raptor grounds. One could even make out plate and mail armor still hanging from arm bones or legs of unfortunate souls who had attempted in trying their luck by charging through.

"Hmm, I say we go around," Pendel suggested. Her eyes seemed transfixed on what may have been a goblin carcass ripped into indiscernible pieces, still clutching a broken mace.

The other women nodded in agreement. Taking a far detour around the raptors would make the safest sense. For hours they detoured their way far from the raptor grounds until night fell where they began setting up camp underneath a large tree.

"Looks like it's going to take more then a week to reach Sithilus," Xig'wa stated, dropping her pack out onto the ground. She looked to the women tallying out orders. "Shandra you set a perimeter. Efera you scout a little ahead, see if there is any trouble nearby. The rest of you, make yourselves useful."

They all nodding going about their allotted tasks. Although it wasn't a spoken statement they all seemed to know Xig'wa was in charge of their little troop. She took to leading naturally and had good solid sense about matters. The warrior busied herself by collecting wood on the forest floor and dead frond leaves that were scattered about. She placed them in the center of camp trying to use flint and tinder to start a fire to aid against chill and whatever hungry creatures might try to stalk them.

Efera came back an hour later plopping herself down by the would be fire. "All's clear" Efera confirmed, "But there is a place known as Marshals refuge we could lay over. It's only a few day hard riding away."

"So be it," Xig'wa nodded though her tone was laced with frustration at the vain attempts to get a blaze going. Throwing her hands up in the air, she sighed, finally admitting defeat. She turned to the human sitting between Juska and Pendel though they all could tell she had no real desire to ask the girl any thing. "Ally, I'm never going to be able to get a fire going, over all this wet wood. Can you do anything about it?"

"Of course, chief" Ally replied confidently, speaking a fire ball spell on the wood. The fire ball went wild however blowing the wood into instant ash.

As the fire burned out, Magtera laughed wiping gray ash from her robe, "Well, if I had any eyebrows they would be burned off right now."

"Damn it, human!" The warrior growled grouchily. It would be fully dark soon, and not only would they be resting in this territory so close to the raptors, they would have no light in case they had to fight. She hadn't meant to yell at Ally but it always seemed to come out that way, the human could be infuriating.

"Sorry…" Ally mumbled keeping her distance away from the warrior. "Sometimes my spells come out stronger than I expect, chief." She didn't know why her spells went awry, all Ally knew was that once she was at the bring of finishing a spell, many times she would loose her concentration and have disastrous results.

Finally, all had been settled down; they had finally gotten a decent fire going on Ally's third try, now they just rested for the morning ride. They all sat by the warming blaze comfortably, getting ready for nightfall.

"Okay, warrior, practice time," Shandra said nudging the warrior three toed feet with her boot.

"What do we need to practice for?" Xig'wa yawned sleepily.

"To keep up our skill, no use letting the lull dull our swings."

"Alright," Xig'wa sighed, hiding a smile. It would be good to have a little action. "If it's the only way to get you to shut up."

The Paladin drew a ring in the verdant earth, with her claymore making it barley big enough for two to stand in. The other women lay back watching the spectacle, yelling out support for their favorites. Ally watched in wonder of their fighting skill, the clang of sword on shield, and the yells of encouragement bombarding her head. In a moment, she wasn't in the dense forest of the crater. She was on a small island, dressed in rich fine robes now covered with ash and soot. Dragons circled the air, though they were so high it was impossible to tell their color. And on the ground, different dragon appeared though portals. Out of the corner of her eye a woman, was flashing ice bolt and fire balls at the oncoming rush of dragons, screaming, "Run, leave, escape."

Ally saw herself preparing a teleportation spell, to where she couldn't recall, only to have a dragon-man strike her, sending the spell awry. When she came back to the present, the rest of the women had surrounded her, looking down at her warily. "You were screaming incoherently, what happened?" Magtera asked worried. She placed a hand on the mages shoulder, sending a bit of healing magic through the girl's body. In only a few weeks she had grown protective of Ally and was constantly monitoring her condition.

"I…remembered something, a battle," the human said in a low whisper of a voice. She explained what happened, retelling all she had seen. All were silent taking in the new information.

"Are you sure, you can remember no landmarks?" Pendel asked.

Ally shook her head, gazing into the fire, "Just dragons, so many….dragons."

"Well, for right now, it means nothing. I'm sure if you try harder you'll remember something else," Shandra said throwing a few twigs into the fire.

Magtera shook her head, looking at the paladin, "I'm afraid this memory was triggered by an action, you and Xig fighting. So it must reason the only memories she will have are ones that will be triggered."

"Darkness has fallen," Xig'wa announced abruptly, "It will do us no good, staying up contemplating mysteries of a blank mind. We had better get some sleep."

To Ally it appeared that the warrior was glaring at her as if she had done something wrong. She couldn't help it that she had blacked out, but Xig'wa had a way of making her feel guilty. Turning away from the warrior she lay down on her bed-roll trying once again in vain to banish the feel of those ruby, angry eyes on her.

The fire crackled brightly sending shadows shooting across the thick wide tree trunks of Un'goro as the women slept. But sleep did not come easy to everyone. Efera rolled back in forth in nightmares, memories of her own resurfacing in horrible avatars in her nightly reprieves. The wet grass soaking through her pallet, and the wild cries of the nocturnal beast on the prowl, sending horrible memories into her head. Memories of solitude, in the forests, hunger, scared, hurt, so very hurt. The feel of abandonment sinking into her deeper than the dew on the grass.

The next morning they were up and gone with what they assumed was dawn. It was hard to tell judging by the thickness of the leaves blocking the sun. One could only judge time, by the lighter or dimness of the jungle. They walked till afternoon, in silence, so far not running into any trouble. The night terrors vanished far away from the hunter in the humid afternoon, producing grouchiness in its stead. Suddenly Efera halted, sniffing the air, as did her bear. "Odd…" she turned to the rest of the women who had stopped now. "I smell smoke."

"I smell it too," Xig'wa sniffed, her sharp eyes searching the land before them.

"I can't, "Magtera said cheerily.

"You're the living dead, you shouldn't" Shandra sighed in annoyance.

Xig'wa shrugged completely baffled. "It can't be a forest fire, everything's so wet here, we could barely get a fire started."

"No…" Juska held a hand up mumbling a few words lowly, "Up ahead, fire spirits, what their doing here I don't know, but there're upset, and something I just can't put my finger on."

"Do you think they'll attack?" Xig'wa asked, putting her three fingered hand on her axe handle.

"It's hard to tell," Juska replied, "They might tolerate us if I explain by the earth mother, we mean no harm."

"No more detours," Efera nodded determinedly spurring her wolf ahead, "Let's try it." She wanted desperately to be out of this place that sparked so many horrid memories of her past. They followed her like a shadow of death, always hanging over her shoulder.

The others agreed walking toward the smells of ash a burning warily.

The jungle ahead slowly began to clear out, the smell of ash rising higher. In front of the women a huge rock stuck out from the ground, caves and grottoes winding the entirety if the massive behemoth of stone. Inside and outside the preverbal mountain, smoking fire elementals wandered around the rock, blazing almost white hot. They crowded the entire mountain pulsing with heat and anger that didn't take a shaman to identify.

"This wasn't here before…" Efera said unsaddling from her wolf. She seemed confused as to why some huge volcano had seemingly sprung up dead center into such a fertile place. It made no sense. She remembered a small knoll here, not this huge bubbling terror.

"Um, Efera," Juska stuttered her Kodo warily taking a step back in fear, "I would get back on your mount, now."

"I thought you said you would try to talk with them," Efera replied.

"Remember when I said there was something about them I couldn't put my finger on. I just figured it out, the elementals are tainted," the shaman revealed sadly. "I can feel their taint from here; it's like a sickly nauseous feeling all over."

"You sure, Juska?" Xig'wa whispered not whishing to draw attention to themselves.

The Tauren nodded, as a cry rent the air. It cried for help in a weak voice echoing from one of the caves.

"Someone needs help," Efera said, gazing intently to see which cave the voice came from.

"Going through all that!" Pendel scoffed pointing a finger to the mountain, "Eh, that poor saps on his own."

It seemed the words 'on his own', had triggered a startling reaction from the hunter. The orc growled blinking back tears, heading to the huge rock determinedly. Her bow drawn and bear bristling for trouble.

"Uh, Efera, come back!" Juska whispered, following the orc.

"This can't end well," Pendel murmured shaking her head; she took off after the two.

The other four women looked at one another, shrugging, and taking off to follow as well.

Efera had managed to dodge, the view of the fire spirits, ducking in and out of caves, looking for the voice. She eventually found it, a goblin, lying on his belly crying faintly for aid. The orc wordlessly took out her water skin, pouring the life giving fluid down the goblins mouth. He managed to open his eyes slightly, thankfulness shimmering in his gaze.

"Okay," Pendel said, walking into the cave, with the rest of the women, "so we found him, now how do we get out."

The orc turned to the entrance to see, Juska, Shandra, and Xig'wa holding back a host fire spirits, it was starting to become a loosing battle. The orcess could see them sweating profusely as they tried to keep out of reach of their flickering claws. Suddenly against all odds, snow began to fall. The three defenders, stepped back from the entrance, as a blizzard, began to form around the mouth of the cave.

"That will keep them away, for now," Ally said, dropping to her knees, very thirsty and exacted. It had been a risk, but Ally knew she had to do something. If not to simply prove to the warrior she was useful.

"What do we do now?" Juska asked, looking at the fire elementals slowly melt the ice that had began building up.

"Ally, think you can teleport us to our mounts?" Asked Xig'wa, looking at the human mage gulp down water.

"I think I can," The mage replied as she wiped her mouth on her sleeve, "Just let me catch my breath."

"We have time," Juska said, "they won't be breaking down that blizzard anytime soon."

"Juska is correct, rest, and concentrate your magic on the task at hand," The priest said, putting healing energy on the goblin.

"Yea, knowing how your spells are, you'll probably accidentally teleport us to Stormwind, or the frozen throne!" Pendel joked. "By they way," the rogue added on, "Efera while we wait, you mind telling us why the Fel were in this whole mess!"

"I'm sure her reasons are her own," Xig'wa interjected. The last thing they needed was an argumant to split them apart in this dire situation.

"No, she's right, I almost got you all killed," the hunter said lowly. "When I was a small child, I was very sick. My father and mother thought I was weak. They didn't want to be known as the only couple in the Crossroads who gave birth to the weakling. They hid me from view all they could, but when I was five, they decided I wasn't worth the keeping. I'd probably be dead in a few days anyway. So they took me from my home and left me at an oasis. I was cold, hungry, and afraid. That's where I met Bor here," the hunter said proudly petting the bear. "He was the runt of a litter and his family had abandoned him as well. We took care of one another, and we both survived in the wilderness, becoming strong."

"What happened then?" Juska asked leaning forward intrigued by the orcess' tale.

Efera shrugged. "Nothing, I never went back to my parents, and just kept on surviving, here and there, working my way around the world."

Magtera placed a comforting hand on the hunters shoulder. "I feel sorry for them, your parents," .

"Sorry, for them, why?" The hunter asked.

"They never got to see the strong woman I see now. The strongest orc I'll ever know."

Efera said nothing back to the priest, looking down at the bear, who faithfully sat by her side.

"I hate to ruin this lovely moment, ladies," the male goblin interjected, having regained some of his strength from the healing spells, "But that ice is almost worn, so if we could, you know, hurry this sob story along."

"That sob story saved your life," Xig'wa growled picking the goblin up bodily.

He never got to respond as the ice made a loud crack, a fiery claw coming through.

"O.K, yea, time to go. Ally, do your thing!" Pendel shouted as enraged fire spirits began pouring in. the mage spoke the words, an in an instant leaving several confused spirits howling in cheated rage.

"You've been saved," the warrior announced icily, dropping the goblin onto the ground. They turned to get back on their mounts, leaving the goblin alone.

"Hey, wait a minuet you're not just going to leave me here!" he pleaded running to catch up with Xig'wa, "I need to get back to Marshals refuge, my brother is wind rider there has probably offered a reward for my safe return. He can take you anywhere on Kalimdor!"

The women looked at one another nodding their heads. A few wyvern would shorten their trip considerably. "Okay, we'll take you to the refuge. But if there's no reward, I'll get Ally to teleport you right back into that cave," Xig'wa stated completely serious.

The goblin gulped loudly but nodded his head in agreement climbing on board the raptor. The path to the refuge was just coming into view as the sun was setting. Oddly enough a Horde guard was stationed at the entrance. "When did the Horde confiscate the refuge?" Xig'wa asked the goblin.

"You tell me," he replied genuinely confused.

"Just how long had you been in that cave?" Shandra asked sarcastically. As they drew closer it was obvious the refuge was now in Horde hands.

"Wait here," Xig'wa said, "I'll see what the situation is." The warrior got off the raptor, walking up to the guards officiously. They seemed to recognize her immediately, saluting and standing up straighter. After a few minuets of discussion she rejoined her group. "It seems that the Horde has confiscated the refuge due to Alliance aggression. I'll find out more once we get in, but there's one complication." The warrior said, nudging her head towards Ally.

"There's a ban on mages?" Magtera asked dumbfounded.

"No you dolt," Shandra rolled her eyes, "She's human."

"So…" Ally shrugged, confused. She didn't seem to understand the gravity of such a statement. Why would her being human matter?

"You know, human, Alliance, Stormwind, Varian Wyrnn, sworn enemies… any of that ring a bell?" Juska asked.

Ally shook her head, in ignorance, "Whose Varian, and what's a Stormwind?"

The others looked at her in shock, and disbelief for a moment. "You must be kidding," Shandra groaned in disbelief. Could it be this human remembered nothing of the outside world.

Magtera shook her head, "I don't think she is. She remembers being on an island, so lets assume for now, it was a secluded island, separated from the trails and wars of the world."

"How can you sound so smart one minute and be so dim the next?" the paladin asked incredulously.

"Let's not get off course, ladies, we can explain things to Ally later, now we have a bigger problem here," Xig'wa said, looking back to the guards, that now looked at them with suspicion.

"I have an idea," Pendel smiled, whispering her plans to the rest of them.

The refuge hadn't changed much, since the last time Efera saw it. But now, a barracks had been erected, and the human who named the refuge head was stuck on a pike. His rotting face forever frozen in a look of confusion and terror. The goblins that had been with the original group, were allowed to stay. But they looked a little on edge with all the spike, and plated orcs around. The captain of the guard, a huge muscle bound orc, much bigger than the rest came stalking up to the women. "Welcome," his voice all but growled, "you all are the first company we've had ever since taking this humid dung pit."

"Good to hear, you finally got rid of that filthy human who ran the place," Efera nodded feigning impression.

The captain laughed briefly, sounding like a stuffed pig, pleased at her compliment. "What brings you ladies down here?" he asked, turning serious once more.

"Mercenaries, bringing back a lost goblin we found by that elemental infested rock. and going down to Sithilus looking for work. The bug-men were complaining of the night elf stench!" Pendel replied jokingly.

The captain roared at the joke, disturbing a few parrots from there nest. He looked over them one last time, just noticing Ally far in the back, holding their mounts reigns, a hood over her head. Though it did nothing to hide the fact she was human. The captain flicked the hood off her face growling in disapproval. "What's a human doing traveling with you?"

Efera rolled her eyes, slapping Ally lightly upside the head, "She's a slave. Brought her from a traveler in Tanaris. The human's dumb, both in speech and in the head."

The women held their breath as the captain looked them down suspiciously, they all knew the consequences of human interaction. It was hard not to sigh in relief as the captain shrugged, "Just make sure it doesn't go wandering. We're short on funds up here, I can't compensate you if one of my men kill her by mistake."

"We won't be staying long," Xig'wa finally spoke, "Though before we go I'd like some information of what's happening back home." The warrior walked off with the captain who was eager to tell the latest gossip from Orgrimmar, as the rest of the mercenaries, went to seek out the wind rider. The pair walked into the coolness of the crystal cave, it multi colored crystals transforming the cave alive in wonderful hues. They sat down by a wide stone, big enough to serve as a table as Xig'wa began to speak. "Captain, I want to know why, the Horde has confiscated Marshals refuge. It was never in any interest before," the warrior said, gazing at the orc sternly.

The captain looked at her in confusion. "Where have you been? Earthquakes have begun to shake the world. Elementals are going crazy, there is a constant shadow on the horizon. People are scared and scared people do stupid things. The Alliance have begun to snatch up any neutral area, and the Horde responded in kind."

"What have the Alliance gotten," Xig'wa asked, intrigued, at the dangerous game the Horde and Alliance were playing.

The captain shrugged, rubbing a hand across his five O' clock shadow, "I don't really recall," he said slyly, gazing down at the warrior coin purse. Sighing Xig'wa fished out a few gold, tossing them to the greedy orc.

"You're as bad as a goblin," she stated icily, "Now tell me what I want to know."

"The Cenarion post in Felwood, No one has been able to reach Sithilus yet, Mud sprocket…."

The list went on as Xig'wa listened on with intensity, her heart sinking at every word. "I guess when I get back from leave, a boring tour wont be in my future," She chuckled.

"That's for damn sure," the captain nodded in agreement, "There calling in everybody. I tell you, something big is going to go down in a couple months. Sylvanas has already started sending troops to the Orgrimmar barracks, and supplies are flooding in from Thunder Bluff, and the Echo Isles."

As the conversation drew to a close, she thanked the Orc, promising to send some fresh news from the Sithilus post. The thanking was interrupted by screaming heard outside. Goblin screaming. Warrior and captain raced outside, to see Shandra holding, who could only be the wind rider and his brother, by the necks, shaking them in anger. Guards watched on in amusement as the paladin ranted on angrily to the pair. "You two have either got to be the stupidest, wind riders, or you're up to something," she screamed at them.

"Shandra, what happened?" Xig'wa asked, saving the goblin pair from strangling.

"They were going to send us north, not south, Efera over heard them."

The warrior glared down at the two goblins, who were rubbing their sore necks, "It was an honest mistake, ladies," one of the goblins croaked.

"What wind rider, doesn't know north from south!" Efera growled accusingly.

"Now, now ladies, we all make mistakes," Magtera interjected serenely.

The goblins nodded vigorously, proclaiming their innocents. In the excitement of things, Ally had forgotten she was supposed to be pretending the part of a slave. She had taken her hood off, gazing intently at the spectacle. "I agree…" was as far as she got before, Pendel leapt to put a hand over the humans mouth.

"Did she just speak?" The captain asked dubiously, hand going for his sword.

"No, I coughed," Pendel replied quickly. But the orc still looked at them suspiciously. "Ladies lets drop it and lets go!" the rogue said, throwing flash powder at the captain, who was coming closer to take a better look at Ally. Chaos broke out as the powder blinded the soldiers, as well. The mercenaries ran to the wind riders, pointing them in the direction of Sithilus.

"Sithilus," Xig'wa said in orcish, hoping that was the language, the beast responded to. They were seated two to a wyvern as they took off, headed toward Sithilus.

Ally was seated behind the warrior, hands wrapped tightly around her waist. For a few minuets, the cries of joy of flying so fast, and so high over came Ally. The human had never experienced anything like the sensation, awe inspiring. The cold stringing her cheeks, wind tousling her hair in every direction, but soon the thrill was gone and the thoughts of what had transpired reared their ugly heads. "I'm sorry, I ruined everything, like always, chief" the human said lowly, "If only I kept my stupid mouth shut."

The warrior was struck dumb of speech, for a time, unsure what to say to comfort the human. She knew she had been harsh to her since she had joined their little band but she didn't think that of her. "The captain was an idiot, he like to many of my Horde brothers and sisters, only see you as a human, and instantly think enemy."

"Do you see me as the enemy?" The girl asked timidly. That would explain why she hated her.

Xig'wa halted in mid sentence, unsure of the response, did she see Ally as an enemy? Was all her time as a soldier killing humans and the rest of the Alliance clouding her sight? "I don't know," she replied lowly, never one to lie about a situation. "Let's not talk of this anymore."

The goblins left dazed at Marshals refuge, weren't angry about their stolen Wyvern. Truth be told, they were exuberant about it. The goblin who had been rescued from the mountain, quickly jotted down a letter in the confusion of the refuge. His brother attached the small letter to a parrot's leg. Sending the small bird off as fast as its wings could carry it.

"How long do you think it will take the parrot to reach Undermine?" The rescued brother asked.

With a hand to cover his eyes, the wind rider watched the bird soar through the air, it let out a terrified squawk as a rocket, took off on its back. "No time at all," he chuckled maliciously.

"Do you think it was really her?" the brother asked anxiously, resting his back on a Wyvern stall.

"Aye," the wind rider nodded, "I saw her once in Undermine. Trust me, when you see her once, you'll never forget her. And neither has the Boss," he tacked on.


End file.
